MySpace Platform To Soon Get Big, Core Upgrade

MySpace may seem like an underappreciated platform, but that's not the case for the developers -- especially game developers -- who have been busy building for it over the last couple years. Engagement and revenue per user numbers are higher on the site than on market leader Facebook, according to multiple people in the industry. And now MySpace is taking good steps to help developers. It announced a new analytics API and reviewed its recent API additions today at its San Francisco offices. By providing better analytics and channels for growth, MySpace can help applications figure out how to keep users on the site longer, and have it be a more relevant place for entertainment -- its strategic focus. Rather than trying to build new features, like what Facebook is doing with its Credits virtual currency, MySpace is improving what it already has -- which is that it is the number two social network gaming platform after Facebook. Many applications have millions of users, with Playdom and Zynga at the top. The demographic skews young and more than 80% American, an audience that likes to play games and pay for virtual goods. MySpace is focusing on the fundamentals for developers, to help them build bigger businesses and invest more in the platform. As an example of that, Dave Peck, the company's director of engineering, platform and mobile, told us today that the third-party monetization companies on the platform are doing a good job already. Despite rumors we heard a year ago about a MySpace virtual currency, we don't expect to see one any time soon. The News Corp.-owned company got new management last spring, and it has gone through significant restructuring and product changes. Entertainment is the mission now; the company was busy with its music service earlier this year, for example. MySpace's platform hasn't seen a lot of changes for awhile, that's about to change. The platform will include in-house stats available for developers to access remotely via REST APIs. While the company also plans to make more data public, the metrics below will be for app owners only. Expect to see more in the next couple of weeks. MySpace says it has been working with a range of developers on the APIs already and is looking for more input. The company is also testing out uses of its data in MySpace Labs, building applications in-house that run on the platform -- another way to get developers interested. Metrics: Installs Uninstalls Impressions Viral channel usage and success (clicks on notifications, invites, etc., installs coming from those locations) API usage (frequency of API usage) Ability to segment this info based on location, gender, age range, etc. And here are the APIs as presented by MySpace at Le Web last fall (you can see the full thing below): Real-time stream: Get the full stream in real-time pushed to your site. Status and mood commenting: Get MySpace status updates and moods to your site, and allow your users to comment from your site, with those comments appearing back in the MySpace Stream. Open search: Allow searching people by name or email address, with filtering/narrowing search results by gender, age, and location. Photo Upload: Easily allow users to upload photos into MySpace from your sites or MySpace Apps, and vice versa. Share on MySpace (a feature formerly called PostTo): Posting to MySpace is a simple way for MySpace users to share content from their favorite websites into the MySpace stream. It is also updating its implementation of the OpenSocial platform standard to 0.9. This includes updates to the OpenSocial Markup Language (OSML) and communication channels for data Activity Publishing Into MySpace: Allow users to show activities from your site in the MySpace Stream for quick, secure, and easy sharing with friends App updates: Multi-User App Activity -- send invites up to 20 people at a time App Activity: visible to friends regardless of if they have the app installed App Notifications: now appear in users’ mail center

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MySpace Platform To Soon Get Big, Core Upgrade

Eric Eldon

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Eric Eldon